Setback! Ring gear bolt snaps...

At this stage the last thing I needed was a snapped bolt.

The ring gear is bolted to the flywheel with 9 pan head screws. Supplied by Porsche I wasn't expecting any problems bar the challenge of aligning the three sets of offset holes on the flywheel and ring gear on the clutch pressure plate.

Inserting the bolts through the starter motor hole in the back of the bell housing is awkward enough but very difficult to align the three sets of three holes (more on this later!).

I had my son turn the crank shaft via a long breaker bar while I inserted a pencil into the ring gear hole to find the corresponding threaded hole in the flywheel. Once I thought I'd figured out the sequence I inserted the first 6mm Allen head screw and began tightening it up.

When it was tight I then gave it a crank with the torque wrench and twang! Snapped bolt.

To say I was upset is an understatement. I could immediately envisage pulling the engine to get access to the remaining part of the bolt threaded into the flywheel...

There's no way around it - the engine had to come out. Again.

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Living with a Porsche 944

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